Backstage Crew
by Zip Goes A Million
Summary: One-shot modern AU for LSL week and Rock the 'Bransons in Costume' AU. Tom is directing the first play he has written and his actors are not behaving. Sybil, part of the costume department, helps him out when he's about to have a breakdown over his casting choices.


**Backstage Crew**

"Christopher and Rebecca! Can you please concentrate! We don't have time for all this faffing about!" Tom ordered strongly to the actors who were _supposed_ to rehearsing. Tom had written a play about the fight for Irish independence a few years previously and had only now been offered the chance to get it seen. He had gathered a group of actors (a group he currently wished he could replace with more professional stock) and was directing the play single-handedly. That hadn't been the original plan. He'd had help from another director with more experience, but his help had gone down the drain when he had been called back to his home country of South Africa due to 'family issues'. Now Tom was left to handle a group of young uncooperative actors by himself, and he wasn't best pleased about it. "Ladies at the back, can we get it together please! And will you stop singing; we're not rehearsing for _Les Mis_! This is supposed to be a dress rehearsal – a proper rehearsal, all the way through, as if this was an actual performance, and you're all making it look like you've never even seen the script in your life!" Tom bellowed, trying to get his cast members to begin taking things seriously. "Ella, you've forgotten your lines twice today, Christopher, you've got no idea where you're supposed to be standing at any given time, and Freddie, you shouldn't even be on stage right now. This is scene five – you ought to be backstage getting changed into your costume for the _next_ scene." He sighed and rubbed his temples, only to look up and see more issues with the cast. "Josie, where's your hat? I've told you time and again not to leave it backstage. It's essential for this scene – it's part of your costume. Everyone else is wearing full costume, so why aren't you?"

"Edward's not wearing his costume," Josie retaliated. _Maybe I should have written a play about middle-aged men, and not young, feisty teenagers_, Tom thought. He turned around to find Edward, whose character was minor in this particular scene, but a character of ever-increasing importance in the second act, standing at the side of the room only wearing half of what he should have been. In playing the part of a footman, he should have been wearing a starched shirt front and tails along with his shirt and waistcoat, but Edward, of course, wasn't wearing what he should have been.

"Why not?" Tom asked, getting increasingly angry at the incompetence of his team. Edward just shrugged vaguely in Tom's direction. "You need to be responsible actors! You're all here because you want to be, so please, _please_ put some effort into your acting. We'll be here ten times longer if you won't listen to a word I say." He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. "Josie, go and fetch your hat from backstage. Edward, where's the rest of your costume?" Edward simply shrugged again. "_I'll_ go and find it then, shall I?" he said as he began to storm off, heading for the costume room, as the cast stared at him as he left. "It's not like I do everything else around here or anything," he mumbled to himself sarcastically, still fuming about his cast.

When he got to the costume department, he found the costume ladies sitting round a table having a chat and a cup of tea, along with a good laugh. A few of them were hand stitching a few costumes as they talked, and there were a few scripts lying about the place, completely covered in scribbles and drawings about costumes and ideas and plans and notes. There were racks of costumes, full to bursting, thanks to all the complex costume changes throughout the performance. When the group of ladies heard Tom coming around the corner, they turned to look at the door so that when he entered he saw five faces looking back at him. "That's a look of sheer fury," the eldest of the lot said, a sympathetic look directed at Tom.

"They're all a fecking useless bunch of actors," Tom said, trying to suppress at least some of his anger.

"That's a bit harsh," one of the other women said.

"Perhaps, but it's true," Tom said, anger still evident in his voice. "Why doesn't Edward have his costume?"

"He should have the whole lot," Sybil said, the youngest of the group of ladies. She and Tom hadn't spoken much in the past, but saw each other often when they were working backstage in the theatre. "He ripped his coat yesterday morning, but we sorted that out before he arrived today. He should have it all – he came to get it this morning. He's probably dumped it all backstage somewhere." Tom sighed deeply, closed his eyes and groaned, hoping that some of the pain of directing this play would go away soon. "Why don't you go back to directing? I'll sort out Edward's costume," Sybil said, pushing herself up off her chair. Tom didn't even have the energy to answer. He just nodded shallowly. Directing was all-consuming and he didn't have the patience to waste breath on things that didn't strictly need to be said.

They walked down the corridor together in silence before they split off – Tom back to the stage and Sybil to find the missing costume behind the thick black curtains that separated chaos from acting. Though the lights were on, it was a very dim light, in which Sybil struggled to see. She looked left and right as she walked around backstage, looking for the missing garments. Everything really needed a tidy up. Many of the actors dumped their stuff just behind the curtains of the stage instead of putting it in their dressing rooms to make life easier for them, but of course it never made life easier for any of the backstage crew. "Where the hell are they?" she whispered to herself, looking around her. She whirled around, looking at the floor as she went and spotted the starched shirt front and tails simply flung to the side in a heap. She picked them up, brushed the majority of the dust off them and began to make her way to the stage, where she hear the actors getting on with their dialogue and Tom every so often grumbling to himself or saying,

"No, do that again. We need to get this right!"

Edward was standing near the back of the stage out of the way, so Sybil slipped onto the stage as inconspicuously as she could and gave the costume to Edward with a stern look. She was whispering to him so that she didn't disturb the other actors. But, nonetheless, she caught Tom's attention. He'd never truly noticed her before. He'd seen her around, sewing costumes and mending costumes and fitting costumes, and helping backstage at other shows and staying late after shows to finish work, but he'd never _noticed_ her. She was stunning, now that he looked at her properly. Her dark hair sat in gentle waves, stopping below her shoulders. Her slim legs and small waist suited her. And her dress sense was perfect, along with her makeup (especially the red lipstick). He watched her disappear just after Edward had finished amending his costume. He forced himself to snap out of his thoughts, cleared his throat and said with a serious look, "Much better, Edward."

Later that evening, after rehearsals had finished and all the actors had gone home, Tom decided to go and see if Sybil was still in the costume room. She was. She sat alone, poring over a script and writing a few more notes about (he assumed) costume changes and whatnot. "Hi, Sybil," he said as he stood in the doorway. Sybil turned in her chair at the sound of his voice.

"Oh, hi Tom," she said, a cheerful note in her voice.

"Sorry about earlier," he said, walking into the room to sit in the chair opposite her.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," she assured. "You were stressed and your cast was misbehaving. I can't blame you for being a little bit furious," she said with a smile.

"How did you get Edward to stay in that costume after you found it?" he asked bluntly. Sybil blushed slightly.

"He'll do whatever I tell him to. Either he's absolutely terrified of me or he has a crush on me. Either way, it works to make him do what he's supposed to!" Sybil laughed.

"I wish he'd listen to me like he listens to you," Tom mumbled to himself, but loudly enough for Sybil to hear.

"He should. Your directing is brilliant. And your writing. And you're not a horrible person. You have no idea how many directors I've worked with whom I couldn't stand."

"I'm glad I'm not on that list."

"No. You're at the opposite end of the spectrum. You're a lovely person to work with. And your writing is really fantastic. It's a shame I'm stuck backstage dealing with snobby actors like Edward who are smitten for me. I wish I could sit in the audience for a night and watch it instead," Sybil admitted.

"You don't want to do that. Read the script. You'll imagine it better than it is at the moment," Tom chuckled.

"You don't mean that."

"Yes I do."

"Look, Tom, I know this is the first play you're directing and you're anxious about it. But I've seen enough plays to know that when it really matters, the actors pick up their game. They know when they need to start concentrating and then it will be amazing. You're going to be stressed until the curtain closes at the end of the last show, but trust me; it will all work out in the end."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because it always does, regardless of the show or the actors or the directors," Sybil said knowingly.

"Well I'm glad one of us is confident about that," Tom laughed.

"Trust me!" Sybil said with a smile, making light of the situation.

"I can't trust you fully if I don't know you," Tom pointed out.

"Then take me out for coffee. Maybe after that you can trust me more," Sybil said, her voice at a lower pitch than usual. She reluctantly took her eyes off him to find a scrap bit of paper on which to write her number. "There's my number," she said, handing the piece of paper over to him. "Let me know when you've decided when you're ready to start trusting me."

"Will do," he said, standing from the chair. "But I ought to go now. More rehearsals from hell to face tomorrow," he said as he walked past Sybil towards the door.

"I promise you, hand on heart, that they'll get better."

"Tell me that again after I've taken you for coffee and then maybe I'll believe you," Tom said with a smirk as he left the room. With any luck, he'd sleep well tonight, probably dreaming about coffee with Sybil, and be ready to face more rehearsals tomorrow.

* * *

><p><em>So, I wrote this when everyone at my school was in full school-play mode, where I head the backstage team. I know the theme for this month was 'Bransons in Costume' which gives a Halloween vibe, but Halloween isn't big where I live, and I don't ever do anything for Halloween, so this made more sense in my head. I hope you liked it and please leave a review if you can. Long live the AU!<em>


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